Episode 1: Our House Collapsed!
One morning, when Gregor woke from an uneasy dream, he realized he had transformed into a giant cockroach inside his bed.
That was the opening line of the novel I read as a middle schooler — Kafka's Metamorphosis.
The only thing better about me than him was that I wasn't a bug but a dragon with shimmering white feathers.
The only thing worse was that I no longer had a home.
Ah.
I didn't even have family.
What was there, anyway?
*
This morning, at dawn.
I woke up and found myself as a dragon.
'……?'
But the shock of having become a dragon wasn't that great.
It was the sight of my house that was more shocking.
My enormous claws had crushed the wooden floorboards.
My tail, trapped in the narrow space, had gouged a massive gash in the neighboring house's wall.
The wings sprouting from my back had smashed through the ceiling.
I guess I should call it a deja vu.
Amidst the bricks, dust, rusty iron beams, and water spurting like a fountain from the broken pipes...
I reflected on my past life.
The childhood memories that had faded.
In the orphanage, water leaked from the ceiling.
From the very first time I patched the holes with my own ass because of the dripping water drops, I had wanted a home of my own.
I needed money.
In middle school, I ran as a game proxy.
After about a year, the game company started aggressively demanding payment.
Since there were other ways to make money besides games, I quit without hesitation.
In high school, I tutored illegally.
Starting with turning a high school dropout into a university scholarship student, I began teaching a few kids.
At first, it was 15,000 won per hour, and by the time I graduated high school, it had risen to 35,000 won per hour.
After entering university, I continued tutoring under the banner of Korea University.
I had considered receiving cash like in high school, but after receiving a tip-off from a public service that one of the tutoring students was preparing to report me, I started paying taxes honestly while earning money.
Even when tutoring and studying personally left me with time, I took on odd jobs.
And when there was still time before bed, I added some minor stock investments.
The profits were negative, but anyway.
By working like that, at 23, I had saved 120 million won.
It was a university break.
The busyness was the same, but at least I had time to check on the house.
After looking around, a decent property had come up.
A 16-pyeong old villa, on the top floor of the 3rd floor.
It was an accident property after the previous owner, an elderly man who had died alone, had undergone special cleaning.
I took out a loan for the first time in my life, pulling out a bit more than 150 million, and immediately bought it.
The move-in day was yesterday.
*
Money, debt, tutoring, graduation.
'Mom...'
The deja vu was longer than I thought.
Specifically, until the sound of police car sirens came from far away.
- Weeeeeeeeeeeong
I heard it in a daze.
What... what happened in the neighborhood...?
'Aha.'
So that's what happened!
The 3rd floor top floor that had collapsed like it had been bombed.
In the center of it all, a dragon with white feathers standing tall.
Since my body had been my house, the sound of it collapsing wasn't small.
I carefully looked around.
As expected, even though it was midnight, most houses had lights on in their windows.
A few brave ones had their heads out the windows, looking at me.
On top of that, from below, I could hear murmuring voices.
'What, what is that?'
'I don't know... is it some kind of model?'
'Hey, isn't that the place where that old man lived?'
'That person passed away, right?'
'I know.'
'......?'
The source of the voices was in front of the villa's 1st floor entrance.
It seemed residents who had evacuated due to the building collapsing had gathered there.
And some of their phone camera lenses were pointed at me.
'......Eh? Mom. It's moving?'
'Eh?'
Ah.
"Kyaaaaaaaak! It's moving! It's moving!!"
'Tsk.'
That was the starting point.
"Uaaaaaaaak! Aak! Uak! Aak!"
"Call the police! Call the police!"
"I've already called, you idiot!!"
"Eh, eh eh......"
The gathered residents were in chaos.
Half of them ran away, and the other half stood there dumbfounded.
Even in the midst of that, the smartphone cameras aimed at me didn't lower.
Seeing the flashing camera flashes, my mind snapped back.
'Shit.'
Whether photo or video, something had already been captured.
The sirens were a bit far, so not immediately, but soon the police would arrive.
At this moment, when police or firefighters arrived, my life as a dragon would obviously become hell.
If they were kind, I'd be handed over to an animal protection group and taken to the zoo.
If not, I might be taken to some bio lab.
There was nowhere to hide.
I was bigger than the house; where could I hide?
And now I had no home to hide in. Home-less dragon, indeed.
So, should I fight?
Even the strongest in the world from the famous comic's world that I saw in YouTube Shorts was powerless against an elephant tranquilizer gun.
And unlike the ordinary dragons in novels or movies, I didn't have scales.
Could my skin really block bullets?
Moreover, what would I do after fighting?
I didn't know anything about what it meant to be a dragon yet.
If I messed up my strength control and killed a person, I'd have to live on the run for the rest of my life.
'What should I do?'
My mind went blank.
I couldn't roll my feet here. If it collapsed more, I couldn't handle it. Even if I could do economic activity in the future, no.
'What should I do? What should I do? What should I do—'
Suddenly, one of the students I tutored came to mind.
The kid whose grades were affected because he loved fantasy novels too much, and his parents worried about it.
I had recommended novels to the kid.
'X-rated story!'
'Oh yeah. Read it.'
I recommended a novel with dragons, read a bit, and then dropped it.
'You send me this kind of thing?'
'Cancel...! That thing just now...!!!'
It wasn't fun for me...
But now, that knowledge was useful.
It must have been the polymorph from there. The magic to turn into a person?
The only thing that came to mind immediately.
It seemed possible to do.
I desperately prayed in my heart.
Get small, get small, turn into a person instead of a dragon, please make me Yoo Siwol, 23-year-old male from Korea University Artificial Intelligence Department, who is a scholarship student from Seoul-based Nammyeong Orphanage!!!
- Pasasak
A sound of something shattering echoed.
The wings and feathers behind my shoulders were breaking into pinkish clouds.
The large wings disappeared without a trace.
My height shrank by more than double, and my vision dropped sharply.
Along with a suffocating feeling like my throat was half-blocked, the familiar sensation of bipedal walking returned.
"Kek! Kehek! Kolk! Kolk!"
I didn't know how, but I had returned to human form.
"It's done..."
But that wasn't the end. The residents had all fled.
Anyone left alone in an empty scene would be suspicious.
I had to run too.
I hurriedly picked up the track pants that were rolling on the floor and put them on.
"Eh."
The clothes were big.
"Ueh?"
Why was the voice like this.
Instead of the familiar husky low voice of a 20s man, a fine feminine voice like from a radio came out.
I picked up a broken mirror shard hanging in the gap of the damaged closet.
My skin was as white as if I hadn't seen the sun for ten years.
My hair was even whiter.
In my slightly open mouth, sharp little teeth poked out.
The pinkish eyes sparkled like a snow globe and shone, but the pupils in the center were torn long and vertically.
On my chest, there was an unfamiliar weight.
It wasn't completely absent, but it was at the level of 'it exists' — but that made the sensation even stranger.
And all those strange sensations and forms were depicting the curves of a teenage girl.
I froze blankly.
'......Was I female?'
......Hmm.
But was that important now?
I quickly regained my senses.
The important thing now wasn't my biological gender.
What was important was that I had become a dragon, that in the process I had pulled out a loan of over 150 million for the house that collapsed, and that as a result, I had to face an unjustified compensation for the damage to the neighboring house's wall.
I had worked hard.
Even though I had fought with the law and some bullying in the process, I had worked hard anyway.
Even if life was a bit poisonous, there was no denying that I had worked hard.
So, the world shouldn't do this to me.
I should be able to become a dragon and female, but I shouldn't have to pay for the broken pipes and building damage...
"Right... life is like this sometimes."
I tied the strings of the track pants that had slipped down.
I folded the hem of the pants several times and put on an oversized hoodie.
Then, with my phone and wallet, I quickly descended the villa stairs.
The siren sound was getting closer.
"Who's coming down?"
"No, where did the one up there go?"
"How am I supposed to know that!"
"Eh? Student! Come out! The house collapsed!"
The moment I opened the entrance door, the gazes of the residents who had been trembling outside all turned to me.
"I'll pass by! Sorry!"
"Eh, eh!?"
Some residents, perhaps bothered by the girl who looked like she was borrowing clothes, reached out to me.
I ignored them and ran, pressing the hoodie down tightly.
'What? Who are you? I haven't seen anyone like that around.'
'I don't know. Maybe one of the kids who came to play.'
'But where did the one up there go?'
'Eh?'
From behind, the residents were murmuring.
- Weeeeeeeeeeeng!
The police car that had been coming towards our house passed right next to me.
It was a momentary flash, but naturally, the police didn't recognize me or try to catch me.
While listening to the fading siren, I continued running.
My breath reached my throat, and a metallic smell came from my throat.
While running, at the red light of the crossing I faced, I barely stopped my jump.
"Hah, huak... hah......"
Around me was now Daehak-ro.
It was early morning but bright, and there were a few people waiting at the crossing with me.
It was the usual daily scenery.
Except for me.
The 23-year-old Yoo Siwol, a scholarship student from Seoul-based Nammyeong Orphanage, majoring in Artificial Intelligence at Korea University, had become a female (estimated) dragon.
I didn't know what would become of my identity.
The house was gone, and tutoring would probably be even harder.
But the debt remained.
Perhaps compensation for the damage would be added to it.
The reality hit hard, and the suppressed resentment surged up.
"Shit... I wish the world would end..."
But where would a guy who had saved 1.2 billion won in cash at 23 go?
As long as I survived, somehow I'd manage.
Whether complicated identity issues, debts, or compensation bills.
I searched for nearby motels on the map, then turned off my phone.
No matter what, as long as I lived, somehow it would work out.